Niten Ichi-ryū
Niten Ichi-ryū (二天一流?), which can be loosely translated as "the school of the strategy of two heavens as one", is a koryū, transmitting a style of classical Japanese swordsmanship conceived by the warrior Miyamoto Musashi. History Niten Ichi-ryū is mainly known for the two-sword—katana and wakizashi—kenjutsu techniques Musashi called Niten Ichi. Musahi Miyamoto created the two sword style by wielding a katana on the offensive right hand while the Wakizashi on the defensive left hand, he first thought about it when he questioned himself why japanese swordsman only use one sword during fights. The style is used by members of the Miyamoto Clan. Philosophy It is a philoshipical fighting style as shown by a article by Musashi which goes as follows; "A sword is to be held in the following manner: the middle, fourth and little fingers should grip the hilt vigorously while the thumb and index finger should be lightly placed on the hilt. There are two types of swords and hands - live ones and dead ones. If the hands grips the sword too firmly when taking the stance or parrying, then it is too difficult to take the offensive. These are what I call "dead" hands. On the other hand, if one grips the sword in a relaxed manner, he can continually take the offensive. These are "live" hands. One must not cross one's wrists nor bend one's elbows too much or too little. Muscles on the upper side of the arm should be relaxed, those on the lower taut." Techniques So far only 12 techniques have been shown throughout the entire series, this is because the Niten Ichi-ryū is a very secretive fighting style and must be kept from copying. Tachi Seiho (太刀勢法) -''' Twelve techniques with long sword: # '指先 Sassen -' The user pushes and slides the sword blade with his right hand so as to increase the speed of the sword. In this way, a slash with tremendous speed is produced, at the last possible moment he switches hands, so that the reach of this upward slash is increased even further. # '八相左 Hasso Hidari -' To use this technique, the user falls down, then he gives himself a sprint with his feet in order to dash forward, combining the strength of gravity from the fall with his own and resulting in an incredibly fast movement. As he moves like this, the user slashes his opponent with his sword from below, usually an unprotected spot # '''八相右 Hasso Migi - '''The user simply removes his right hand entirely and uses the left one on the bottom of the handle to push while twisting the body in order to extend the reach, turning the slash into a thrust which leaves no escape to the enemy. ' # '受流左 Uke Nagashi Hidari -''' The gets into a squatting stance and then points both of his swords to the right with the daisho over the katana and then makes a vertical spinning jump and slashes all around him. # '受流右 Uke Nagashi Migi -' The user does a slicing attack while switching the katana between the swing, changing the trajectory and the timing of the attack freely. # '捩構 Moji Gamae - '''A counter-attack, the user raises his sword horizontally over his head. When the enemy weapon is about to hit him, he attacks the weapon with a downward slash while rotating the sword at the same time, resulting in a powerful blow that knocks back the weapon, chipping it. # '張付 Haritsuke -''' The user synchronizes with his opponent's breathing to evade attacks, this allows them to also see perfectly with no blind spot as they are one with nature. # '流打 Nagashi Uchi - '''The user loosens the grip on both his swords then proceeds to spin them in a wheel-like fashion to slash the opponent in a spinning manner. # '虎振 Tora Buri -''' The user jumps up into the air and then does a spinning downward slash that creates a tiger-shape shock wave towards the ground. # '数喜 Kazuki -' For this technique the user needs to relax his body completely, adopting a "natural posture". Then, suddenly, use all his unused muscular strength to rotate the body, simultaneously evading a hit and going into range of an opponent. to the opponent it'd appear as if the user had disappeared. # '合先打留 Aisen Uchidome -' The user unleashes two powerful slashes while his swords are crossed in an x-shape that can cut through multiple trees in the distance. # '余打 (アマシ打）Amashi Uchi -' This is a incredibly high-levelled technique. The user puts everything on the line and places their hands in front of themselves, then uses all their power and concentration to attack their opponent with a powerful onslaught of strikes until their opponent is either in submission or is killed. Trivia *The style is based of the historical fighting style that Musashi Miyamoto created; Niten Ichi-ryū. Category:Techniques